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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

how dare we?

presuming on God's grace
i think about the times i have either thought, or actually said out loud,
i probably shouldn't say this, but...

i think about the times i have known in my mind that i should not do something, but brushed it aside and did it anyways.

it amazes me to think about the way that so many of us do this on a consistent basis.

i have to think of this from the perspective of a mom.
say for example that my boys have been told to make their beds every morning.
they know it's what i ask of them.
but they decide every morning when they wake up not to do it.

then they spend the rest of the day saying what a great mom i am.
how they want to make me happy, and how much they love me.
they are even proud to go around and say that i am their mom.

am i truly happy with them?
do i decide to reward them for the fact that they said they loved me?
of course not!
they are outright disobeying.
they know what i expect and they chose not to do it.

how many times do i do that with God?
i know what he says to do.
and then there are days when i choose to outright disobey.

then i instagram my Bible and coffee.
i might sing about how much i love him.
but...
is that ok? i mean...i know that he is going to forgive and love me anyways, so am i presuming on his grace?
i think maybe i am.
i imagine that he must be...not disgusted with me, but really disappointed in me.
and don't you think that's worse?
i think many of us could say that when we were growing up we would rather our parents yell at us than be sad and disappointed with us!

is God disappointed in me?
is he disappointed in you?

i love the passage in Hebrews when it says...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
did you get that?? we have sin that so easily entangles us. trips us up. ensnares us. deceives us.
what are we supposed to do with it?
hide it?
brag about it?
keep doing it?

NO! THROW IT OFF!
how do we throw it off?
stop hanging out with the people who are the ones encouraging us to do it.
stop allowing our negative thoughts to remain in our minds.
stop pushing your Bible aside, your church attendance aside, your christian relationships aside.
stop pretending that your sin is ok.
don't let it entangle you!

i love when the Bible uses mental pictures.
that's my favorite.
i can just picture myself running a race and holding on to a big rope of sin.
and as i run, it just entangles my feet, and i am tripping and falling forward towards the ground!
i need to get rid of it. and go on.

i love writings from paul. he is so just like...out there.
he says it how it is.
in Romans 6 he says,What then? shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid!
some other translations say - by no means! of course not! may it never be! absolutely not!
dude...you gotta be outta your mind!
(that last one was my translation)

the passage goes on to say that we are slaves to whatever we choose to obey.
slaves to sin. or slaves to obedience.
but those of us who have accepted Christ's salvation are FREE from sin.
that means we need to start living out our freedom, not going back to bondage!

God loves us.
promises to forgive us every single time we fail.
every. single. time.
and then what do i do?

sweet! he forgives me! so i guess he won't mind if i just do _______________.

how dare we?
how dare we.

who do i think i am that i can just disobey him and presume on the fact that he will forgive.